Iconus Guardian
525 110 120 |uses=7 |buildtime=40 |experience=42 |hull=675 |shields=1500 |repair=1 |regen=1.2 |mitigation=60% |armor=2 |armor.type=Heavy |antimatter=350 |recharge=1 |w1.type=Anti Heavy |w1.name=Laser |w1.front=4 |w1.back=0 |w1.left=0 |w1.right=0 |w1.range=4000 |front.banks=1 |back.banks=0 |left.banks=0 |right.banks=0 |note=Strong vs. none. |desc=A large cruiser with support abilities that aid the survival of nearby friendly ships. |shortcut=W }} The Iconus Guardian is the Advent's Defensive Support Cruiser. Official Description: The Iconus Guardian is a relatively recent addition to the Advent fleet and reflects the new focus on ship shield technology. The hull of the ship is weak, but the Guardian has an extremely powerful shield generator, which can be projected outwards to protect nearby vessels. The shields do not completely prevent the target from being damaged, but they can help nearby ships to survive battles which would have otherwise have destroyed them. Iconus Guardians make excellent supporting ships and combined with offensively oriented ships, like the Destra, can be part of a devastating force. Abilities Shield Projection Official Description: Extends its own shield to nearby friendly targets, absorbing some of the damage that they would have received. Repulsion Official Description: A powerful telekinetic field is projected from this ship, pushing away and slowing the movement of all hostile ships within range. Maintaining the field drains antimatter over time. Tactics * Tactics: It is very useful for most Advent fleets to have a few Guardians for the sake of this ability, which can keep many ships (especially capital ships) alive significantly longer. The Guardian should move into the center of the fleet and then activate this ability absorbing as much damage as possible. * If three or more Iconus Guardians are present in the fleet with Shield Projection active, it can go a long way to ensuring victory, as the projections absorb a third of the damage that would have been received by the other ships. In addition, if you are allied with someone, the Projection will also keep them safe from damage, as well. With a Progenitor Mothership's Shield Regeneration, you can also ensure that the Guardians are well within safe damage tolerances. * Be careful, though, to spread out your Guardians. Shield Projection does not overlap with additional Guardians, so watch out, or de-activate the Auto-Cast. **Tightly grouped Guardians, when placed in a fleet, will automatically cycle their Shield Projection activations to prevent two from being active at once in the same area. **When you've got a large number of ships taking damage at once, though, this doesn't help much. * Also, make sure to include Guardians in ANY defensive fleet, as they can buy you that critical time to get your main fleet(s) back to defend the gravity well. Even if you have decided to let said planet go, the amount of time your ships can survive with the Guardians will more than damage an enemy fleet. * Repulsion is very useful for pushing away enemy short-ranged units, especially heavy cruisers, while you attack them with your strikecraft and Illuminators. Development Patch 1.02 gave Shield Projection a considerable boost, increasing its effective range from 2500 to 5000. Later, in Patch 1.1, Repulsion was changed to a channeling ability (to keep in line with its description), and thus interruptable. Furthermore, it can't be toggled off, and its duration was increased from 0 to 30 seconds, and its cooldown was changed from 0 to 8 seconds. It also had its antimatter requirement increased from 0 to 20 antimatter. Category:Advent Category:Defensive Support Cruisers